Drug development is a costly and time consuming endeavor whereby drug candidates must satisfy certain criteria established by government agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency prior to receiving regulatory approval for marketing thereof. Importantly, assays are conducted to screen drug candidates to determine whether any are substrates or inhibitors of one or more drug transporter proteins and/or drug metabolizing enzymes as that can have a significant effect on the absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of such drugs, their toxicity and drug-drug interactions.
Although cell lines stably expressing a gene encoding a drug transporter proteins or a drug metabolizing enzyme may be used for such screening, significant time and resources are required to generate and maintain frozen stocks thereof. Plus, the level of recombinant protein expressed is typically variable (laboratory to laboratory) and may deteriorate and/or become more variable over time with passage of such cells. Alternatively, freshly plated cells either stably or transiently expressing a gene encoding a drug transporter protein or a drug metabolizing enzyme may be employed for such screening. However, freshly plated cells have a limited shelf life of a few days and are difficult to ship in a manner that maintains their viability. In addition, to generate stable cell lines, the foreign transfected gene is actually integrated into the host genome of the cells and carried along with it during cycles of cells division. The chromosomal integration in the host cells will lead to permanent modification of host genome, potentially leading to abnormal expression of other genes causing unexpected changes of host behavior and unreliable experimental results. Thus, there is a need for cells suitable for screening drug candidates that reduces the investment of time and resources associated with drug development and provide reliable results.